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Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo guaranteed that the construction of the capital’s most anticipated public transportation would run on time despite vacancies within the management of PT Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Jakarta.

The tenure of two directors of PT MRT Jakarta — president director Tribudi Rahardjo and director for planning, operations and maintenance Rachmadi — ended on Feb. 19, leaving only the director for finance and administration Erlan Hidayat on the board of directors.

“[The company’s vacancies] won’t affect construction. It is common that the contracts of some directors [in a company] end. We can always find new people to replace them,” he told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday.

The city administration — the company’s majority stockholder — has not yet named a date for a general shareholders meeting (RUPS) to select new directors.

“I haven’t decided [on when the RUPS will be]. I am going to examine the documents so we can hold the shareholders meeting soon,” Jokowi stated, adding that a shareholders meeting might extend the terms of the two directors.

However, on Monday the governor implied that he was dissatisfied with the company.

“I have waited for five months but I am yet to see any progress. I don’t want to wait any longer,” he said.

Erlan acknowledged that the vacancies had affected the company’s performance over the past month.

“I have to do a number of tasks that shouldn’t be done by me. Of course this is a bit overwhelming,” he said, as quoted by Antara news wire.

Jokowi’s administration revealed that it would move forward with the plan to construct the long-stalled MRT project this year.

Jokowi’s predecessor, Fauzi Bowo, after years of studies and discussions involving transportation experts and officials from both the city administration and the central government, had planned to start the construction of the MRT before the end of last year.

It is believed that the massive project, after it begins operation in 2016, would be crucial to addressing the city’s traffic problems.

The cost for the first phase of the 15.7-kilometer MRT system has been estimated at ¥144 billion (US$1.71 billion), which is to be part-funded by a ¥120 billion soft loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Jokowi administration has been eager to proceed with the project this year following the central government’s agreement to repay 49 percent of the loan — up from an initial 42 percent — leaving the city administration with the remaining 51 percent.

Besides the monorail project, the MRT’s construction has been given priority under the governor’s mid-term regional development plan (RPJMD) for 2013 to 2017 to ease the capital’s horrendous traffic and to promote public transportation use.